NEW ORLEANS–Alex Smith wove through dozens of reporters in a huge hotel ballroom Wednesday morning, got to his assigned place at a table shared with Scott Tolzien, then bellowed in mock horror:

“No podium? Geez!” He was joking, of course, but also kind of not: 100 yards away, Colin Kaepernick held court on the main stage during the 49ers’ media session, by himself, the entire focus of all he surveyed.

Kaepernick is the present and the future of the 49ers offense.

Smith’s status is murkier, of course—he’s the former starting quarterback and currently a bypassed back-up probably getting ready for his final game as a 49er.

NEW ORLEANS–Alex Smith walked through dozens of reporters in a huge hotel ballroom this morning, got to his assigned place for the 49ers’ media availability at a table with Scott Tolzien, then bellowed in mock horror:

“No podium? Geez!”

Then he laughed as he shook his head, sat down and answered all the questions about getting demoted behind Colin Kaepernick and his role and his uncertain future, all over again. (I didn’t ask any yesterday, so I asked a bunch of ’em today, and will write a column on Smith’s 49ers’ future later today.)

NEW ORLEANS–Jim Harbaugh did the full 60 minutes at a Media Day podium and was generally fairly pleasant and patient through a lot of odd-ball questions and some normal ones, too.

Generally, the 49ers coach clearly showed up prepared for this; and while he’s never going to elaborate on many, many subjects and didn’t today, he certainly wasn’t a curt and dismissive as he could’ve been.

I’ll be getting into more of the bizarre questions and calm answers in a full column later today.

But I spotted his wife Sarah standing on the outskirts of the media horde throughout–she left for a bit, but was there for most of her husband’s 60 minutes of talk–and figured she’d be the best evaluator of the hour.

We talked near the end of Jim’s session–Sarah was open and funny, and very proud of her husband. Here’s the conversation…